A few characters only appear in The Walking Dead series but are absent in the comics. One of those is Merle Dixon. The hunter—who appears from Season 1 to Season 3—is introduced as an action-craving racist and misogynistic Apocalypse survivor. Due to his personality, no one tolerates him except his brother Daryl.

Merle grows to become one of TV’s most villainous henchmen when he begins working for The Governor. Even though it’s hard to forget Merle and his reckless behavior, a couple of details about the character might have whizzed past viewers. Some details might have been forgotten too. After all, it’s been close to 8 years since the character was killed off.

Updated on November 17th, 2022 by Jordan Iacobucci: As difficult as it may be to believe, The Walking Dead is about to air its final episode, bringing the long-running zombie series to an end after 11 seasons. With the series finale ahead, fans are looking back at some of their favorite characters from bygone seasons, including Michael Rooker’s Merle Dixon, who left a lasting impression long after his grisly demise in season 3.

He Was Almost Played By Norman Reedus

While many fans can hardly imagine The Walking Dead without Norman Reedus’s Daryl, the fan-favorite character very nearly didn’t exist in the series. In fact, Daryl Dixon was not present in any of the show’s early drafts, with Reedus actually auditioning to play Merle for the pilot episode.

Although the showrunners didn’t feel that Reedus was right for the role of Merle, they liked the actor enough to write a completely new part for him, thus creating the character of Daryl Dixon. This proved to be advantageous for Reedus, as it would turn out, given that Daryl survived far longer than Merle did on the series.

Daryl’s Accurate Prediction

Merle causes plenty of trouble as soon as he is introduced in the Season 1 episode “Guts.” He fires recklessly at walkers, assaults T-Dog, and declares himself the boss of the group. Despite his lack of strategic action, Merle is feared by several characters because of his impulsive violent outbursts.

In the first season, Daryl declares “Nobody can kill Merle but Merle.” This turns out to be somehow true when Merle decides to kill The Governor in Season 3. He stands no chance and he knows it. As expected, he gets captured by Martinez before being shot in the chest by The Governor.

He Doesn’t Share A Scene With Daryl Until Season 3

The scene where Daryl kills a reanimated Merle will always be fresh in the minds of fans. Daryl and Merle talk about each other a couple of times but it takes a while for them to be seen in the same location together. This is probably because the show’s numerous actors normally shoot their scenes in different places at different times.

Daryl and Merle’s first scene together is in the Season 3 mid-season finale titled “Made to Suffer.” In the episode, The Governor wants to use Daryl but Merle tries to protect him. Later, The Governor realizes just how close Merle and Daryl are. He then brings Daryl in front of the people so that they can decide whether he will be executed.

The First Original Main Character To Be Killed Off

Merle is the first of the show’s original main characters to die. The second is Beth Greene, who is shot in the head by Dawn after stabbing her vest. Both Beth and Merle are close associates of Daryl and their deaths deeply affect him. Interestingly, both characters also indirectly cause their own deaths.

This began a long streak of characters, from the comics and otherwise, being killed off violently as The Walking Dead progressed. Nevertheless, Merle’s death remains one of the most tragic, especially after his brother found his reanimated corpse.

His Kill Count

Despite his short run, Merle’s confirmed on-screen kills add to a whopping total of 25. These statistics only account for non-zombified humans, whereas the number of walkers that Merle has killed remains unknown, though it is likely a very high number.

Most of his Merle’s occur during his time as one of The Governor’s henchmen. Before his final shootout scene, he states that he killed many people, some even before the Apocalypse. Given his general demeanor, it should be assumed that the number of kills that happen off-screen or before the series far outnumber those that viewers have seen.

Number Of Jobs He Has Had

Atlanta Survivor Camp and Green family farm boss Shane Walsh states that Merle had made great strides as a drug dealer prior to the Apocalypse. The first job he has is that of a soldier. After being dismissed for punching a Sergeant, he is court-martialed and sentenced to 16 months behind bars.

After the Apocalypse, Merle works as a supply runner at the Atlanta Survivor Camp. He then becomes a guard in Woodbury before joining The Governor’s Woodbury Army where his rank is Lieutenant.

Breaking Bad Reference

Merle has a history of doing and dealing drugs prior to the Apocalypse. This habit begins after he is discharged from the military for punching another officer. The death of his father also makes matters worse.

Blue Sky meth can be spotted in Merle’s bag of drugs a couple of times in the series. This is the same unique meth that only Walter White was capable of manufacturing in Breaking Bad. Perhaps this was a deliberate attempt by the writers to make viewers speculate that both shows were set in the same universe, given that both series are AMC productions.

His Amputation & Prosthetic Hand

Merle is the first living character in The Walking Dead to undergo an amputation. Other living characters that have also had an amputation include The Governor, Hershel, and Aaron. Unlike the other characters, Merle’s amputation is unassisted. He had to amputate his own hand by cutting it off with a hacksaw in order to escape from an Atlanta rooftop when the survivors leave him behind.

Like Aaron’s prosthetic arm (that he sometimes attaches morning star to), Merle’s prosthetic hand looked similar in appearance. The only difference was that he preferred to have a bayonet attached to his.

He Only Had Three Fingers When He Died

It is well-known that Merle loses a hand early in the series, forced to cut it off after he is handcuffed on a roof in Atlanta. However, in Merle’s final moments, he suffers a similar injury while fighting the Governor, who savagely bites off two of his fingers in the midst of brutal hand-to-hand combat.

After his injury sustained as a result of his fight with the Governor, Merle had only two fingers left on his good hand. Despite Merle’s unsavory introduction, it was difficult for fans to see him go this way, as he had become something of a fan-favorite during his time on the series.

Variety Of Firearms

The former antagonist changes firearms more times than any other character on the show. In fact, he rarely uses the same gun across episodes. Given his military background, this makes total sense.

The first guns he is seen using the series are the Winchester Model 70 and the Browning Hi-Power, which he fires from the top of a roof. The last gun he handles before his death is the Mk. 18 Mod. 0. He has laid his hands on a variety of other guns such as the Walther P99 and the Colt MK IV Series 70.

Daryl Inherits A Motorcycle From Him

Merle was the initial owner of Daryl Dixon’s iconic first motorcycle, though he never rides it during his time on The Walking Dead. The bike, which is well known throughout the fandom, is a Triumph Bonneville TR6C Chopper from the ’70s.

Daryl leaves the Triumph behind when the group manages to escape from the prison. However, Daryl’s Jax Teller mannerisms don’t die after the motorcycle is abandoned. He gets his hands on a 1992 Honda CB750 Nighthawk, before settling for the modest but fast KTM 525 EXC.

Started A TWD Henchman Trend

Over the course of The Walking Dead‘s third season, Merle functions as one of the Governor’s top henchmen at Woodbury. However, he eventually comes to see the error of his ways, betraying his boss and fighting for the good guys once more, thereby starting a strange tradition that would carry on throughout the entire series.

The Walking Dead has featured a number of conniving foes in its 11 seasons, all of whom have had certain lackeys under their thumbs. However, it seems that every villain with a right-hand man always finds themselves betrayed at one point or another. Most notable among these examples is Simon, who betrayed Negan in season 7 of the series, forcing the Savior leader to kill his former lieutenant.

The Only Secondary Villain To Renounce His Bad Ways

When Merle Dixon chooses to try and murder The Governor in order to protect his brother Daryl, he begins to transition from a bad guy into an anti-hero. With these actions, Merle redeemed himself a little bit in the eyes of fans.

It is important to note that he is the only key secondary antagonist to do this in the series so far. Other secondary antagonists have remained evil up until their deaths. There have been cases of secondary protagonists turning bad but it has rarely happened the other way around.

He Ends As He Began

Merle is a tragically circular character who, despite his redemption, never fully understood how to be good. His first episode saw him handcuffed to a roof by Rick Grimes for his poor behavior, where he proclaimed that he would never beg for his life. In his final moments, he did the same, refusing to beg the Governor to spare him.

As heroic as he tried to be in his death, Merle’s final moments show just how unchanged he was. He never embraced the altruistic side that his brother eventually did and couldn’t find it within himself to keep fighting alongside Rick’s group. In many ways, Merle died as he lived–alone.